At least 19 people died and 17 were injured when a school vehicle collided with a bus in southwestern Ecuador, the national security service said on Saturday.

Representative image of Ecuador bus crash

At least 19 people died and 17 were injured when a school vehicle collided with a bus in southwestern Ecuador, the national security service said on Saturday.

A source at the Integrated Security Service, or ECU-911, said the school vehicle “was not following a route,” so it carried no passengers during the accident on Friday.

The agency did not specify how many passengers were traveling on the interprovincial service bus. An off-road vehicle was also involved in the crash on the road between the southwestern coastal towns of Yaguachi and Milagro.